Another year, another excuse to entice top bartenders from across the world to create a cocktail, or what we prefer to call a Brocktail… The prize? A trip to New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail.
Building on the success of last year’s International World Gin Day Brocktail Contest with 118 entries from 12 countries, we gave bartenders one month to come up with their Brocktail. We saw some interesting takes on classic cocktails playing into current trends of vegetable and fruit juices, as well as turmeric and aquafaba. Then there was the odd avocado, blueberry banana bread puree, Sichuan pepper oil and pop rice milk to add to the mix. We haven’t tried them all as this year there are 242 cocktails to go around, but we reckon a good year will give us the chance to do just that. Brocktails across 18 countries will leave our passports very well stamped…
The real battle began June 1st, when bartenders had to compete for the most votes. For nine days, bartenders took to social media to spread the news and served customers their Brocktail — the ultimate form of persuasion. Once won over, customers had no reason not to vote as a bottle of Brockmans was given away each day just for participating.
With over 161,000 votes cast throughout the entire competition, on World Gin Day, June 9, 2018, we announced the top three winners.
Kal Ruparell of 33cankstreet in Leicester, UK stole the winning title from last year’s victor Sebastian Stancyzk of Glasgow’s The Spiritualist. Fresh summery citrus flavours of quince cordial and bergamot seem to be the majority’s cup of tea.
Joining Kal will be Anton Maltsev of Russia and Tuca Di Matheo of Portugal with their winning cocktails. Why not celebrate by making one or all of the winning cocktails at home?
Betty Brown {Gin-Dependant-Woman}
by Kal Ruparell at 33cankstreet
Ingredients
- 50ml Brockmans Gin
- 35ml Homemade Quince Cordial*
- 10ml Italicus Rosolio di Bergamotto
- 5ml Campari
- 3 drops of Saline (10%)
*For Quince cordial
- 6 quince, peeled, seeded, and chopped
- 400gr sugar
- 100ml lemon juice
- 1/4 gram salt
Method
- Stir all ingredients on ice
- For the quince cordial, bring to boil all ingredients in a covered saucepan and simmer for 2 hours. Once chilled to room temperature, transfer to the fridge and chill overnight. The following day, strain out chunks/solids (but don’t throw these away)
- Strain on block ice into a double old-fashioned glass
- Garnish with homemade quince fruit leather** or fizzy belt, and discard lemon twist and rosebud
** For the fruit leather/fizzy belt, you’ll need to take the solids and blend with 50% by weight of fresh strawberries & approximately 100ml water (add more water to aid the blending). Pass through Chinois and spread onto dehydrator trays evenly (approx 3 mm thick). Dehydrate on 65-degree c for 9 hours. Whilst still sticky, dust with homemade sherbet (3 parts citric acid powder, 2 parts icing sugar, 1/2 part baking soda). Or just go to the sweet shop across the road and bye Fizzy belts…
Stan Moskowitz
by Anton Maltsev at Leveldva
Ingredients
- 60ml Brockmans Gin
- 5ml Maraschino Liqueur
- 5ml Violet Liqueur
- 20ml Pommeau de Normandie
- 5ml Manzanilla Liqueur
- 75gr of Fried Corn
- 15gr Lemon
- 50ml Milk
Method
- Infuse all of the ingredients without milk for 12 hours
- Then add the milk, heat all the ingredients on low heat (but don’t bring to boil), and let cool
- Filter the liquid with coffee filters, thereby separating the cocktail from the milk
- The taste turns out to be soft, and the cocktail itself is transparent
- Stir
The Red Fog
by Tuca Di Matheo at Maças Club
Ingredients
- 75ml Brockmans Gin
- 2 dashes of Angostura Orange
- 25ml Sugar Syrup
- 120ml Red Fruit Tea
- Zest of Orange
- Zest of Grapefruit
- Ice with flowers
Method
- Inside the teapot place the red fruit tea bag with 120ml of hot water followed by the 75ml of Brockmans Gin, one zest of orange, one zest of pink grapefruit, 25ml of sugar syrup and two dashes of orange juice
- Stir with barspoon
- Prepare two teacups with spherical ice with flowers while the infusion is being prepared
- Garnish with rosemary and raspberry
Until next year’s World Gin Day #Brocktail Contest.
